


Everglow

by haveanotime



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cute, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Other, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 00:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20055079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haveanotime/pseuds/haveanotime
Summary: Jia never really thought about dating during college. She just wanted to graduate and leap over boundaries as fast as she could. She's hell-bent on finishing the last two years of her college life at the local cafe wallowing in papers and breezing through projects. And then there was Kim Wonpil, who seems to have a natural power of stopping time whenever he's around.





	Everglow

I am coming down with the flu anytime now and I have no one but Yoon Dowoon to blame for it.

Standing outside Samdol Lounge for nearly 30 minutes on a January night in Seoul is a recipe for a bad headache and the fact that Dowoon has not replied to any of my messages or answered my calls is only making things worse. I sigh in sheer impatience, debating whether to go in or not. A lot of people from university are here for sure and I’m not exactly in my ‘mingle vibe’ tonight, but I won’t get anywhere standing idle here either. I raise my wrist to check the time: 11:27 PM. The coveted title of a true best friend absolutely belongs to me at this point. I helplessly look on the endless stream of people making their way in and out of the small alleyway leading to the basement.

Samdol has been a huge commercial success, thanks to the whole university student body. Almost every frosh and frat party, team dinners, band gigs, even alumni homecomings are held here - so yeah, everyone’s here. Except me. I am not a regular. Mainly because of the innate obligation to say hello to literally everyone. There is the usual scenario of the freshmen sucking up to their seniors by treating them rounds of drinks, sophomores trying to get into certain crowds with the juniors and seniors - I’ve seen them all and well, it’s not exactly the  _ meaningful  _ university experience I was vying for. Then there’s also everyone wanting casual hellos from their campus crushes. I can definitely vouch there are far more awkward and cringe-worthy conversations going down there than first days in class. In short, I have no ‘crowd’ and I have no ‘crush’ to win over. All I am is a mere third year majoring in music, sound engineering, to be exact. And oddly enough, I prefer peace and quiet.

I pick up my backpack and wear it over my shoulder, ready to ditch Dowoon -- send a text message or whatever to say I already left when I hear someone call my name. I look up to see Park Sungjin trudging towards me. Sungjin, my favorite senior from the department, Dowoon’s friend and part-owner of Samdol. 

“What are you doing out here? It’s freezing,” He says as his face contorts into a million different expressions when the breeze hits his face. I frown at him, instead, to which he raises a brow in sheer amusement in return. He takes a good long look and his mouth forms an ‘o’, putting two and two together. “Yeah, Dowoon’s still inside with Jae. I can take you to them if you want.” 

“We agreed to meet out here at 11 pm but I can’t get through his phone,” I whine. 

Sungjin lets out a small chuckle and starts scratching his non-existent hair. “Sorry about the cell service down there, I told Jaebum to fix it once we’re done setting up the lighting equipment.”

My frown deepens because I really can’t refuse Sungjin when he’s smiling like that and when he’s already bribing me with a plate of mozzarella sticks. I let out another sigh and nod in resignation. He is already reaching for my backpack before I even get to rethink my decision. 

Much to my surprise, the place has fewer people than usual. The dance floor is empty and people are already seated, finishing their last round of drinks and ready to call it a night. The entrance hall leads to a wall graffiti on the right and the bar on the left. The room then opens up from there, with rows of tables filling up the whole area up until the middle where the dancefloor and pit are located. Past the graffiti are more tables on the side and the dancefloor takes up the rest of the space. A platform is located at the opposite end of the dancefloor. I immediately put on a casual smile as soon as I spot some familiar faces. Some are putting on friendlier faces, but that’s probably for Sungjin, who waves over the waiter from the bar to order what I think are two plates of mozzarella sticks.  _ Oh yes. _ He gestures me to follow him as we head straight to the corner of the room where performers hang out.

A small crowd of people forms at the farthest table and Sungjin places my stuff on the table right beside where the commotion is at. He flashes me an apologetic smile. “Dowoon’s swarmed in there, I bet. Just wait until the best thing of your night arrives,” pointing at the bar. My beloved mozzarella sticks. I flash him a small smile and gesture him to go and leave me be. 

“Right. I just need to set up my last guy. I’ll come back right after,” he poses a scout’s honour and runs off.

When the food arrives, I briefly look around in search of anyone else I know when my eyes land at a familiar head popping out from the side of Dowoon’s table. Park Jaehyung is grinning right at me and mouthing words I can’t comprehend. I squint my eyes accompanied by a frown when suddenly, the lights dim, leaving a lonesome spotlight lit on the stage.

A keyboard and a smaller synth keyboard hovered on top takes up the stage, as well as a laptop filled with stickers placed on a table at the side along with a tabletop mixer. A person’s outline is seen walking up the stairs and into the light as if taking his rightful spot. My eyes follow his hands running through the keys, pressing buttons, toggling some settings, random keys echoing around the room. The light hinders me from seeing his eyes with his curly hair forming a shadow just below them. The bridge of his nose is high and sharp all way down to the tip where it curves inwards, making the rest of his features softer despite the chiselled jawline and cheekbones. His lips naturally form a small frown at the edges but puckered in a cute way. 

When the sound of synth gradually rings through the speakers, I space out and allow its hollowness and vastness travel through my ears. I can sense that he is in complete control of everyone in the room like everyone is currently in a trance. Even his face hidden in the shadows, I can feel time has stopped and every single soul in this room is being taken back to a certain time or place. There is a certain grace to him being on stage. The way he throws his head back most of the time, exposing the veins in his neck as he sings on his own. His eyebrows creasing in the middle at certain points of the song. It feels like getting lost in watching this man get lost. He takes his time adding more sounds until there is consistency in the tune, the whole room vibrating from the heavy bassline that has been added. It takes a while until the song comes alive full stop and that’s when I see his face. The man before me is beautiful, to say the least.

“He’s pretty good, huh?”

I didn’t even notice Sungjin already seated beside me, his eyes clear as the city lights at night. I could only nod as the music reverberates across the entire space.

“The new keyboardist.” Sungjin says as if he just read my mind. “We thought the band could stay as four after Junhyeok left for Julliard but we just didn’t sound the same.”

Im Junhyeok, one of the founding members of the band, had to break the news that he was going to Julliard just a month before he was bound for New York. Needless to say, this ruined Sungjin and Jae the most. Especially since the three of them were the best of friends back then. Dowoon used to mope around me because of how cranky and grumpy they had been when Junghyeok left. 

“Wait, I think he’s also a Sound Engineering major. He and Dowoon are really inseparable.” Sungjin points out. 

Now this comes as a surprise. I’ve never seen him around the building nor heard of Dowoon mention him once.

“He's a year older so he's our senior,” Dowoon plops down beside me with his classic puppy smile. I throw a punch across his arm. “I have a paper I need to submit before 8 AM and if I don’t make it I will skin you alive,” I hiss.

Dowoon just sheepishly bows his head and holds on to my arm. I huff in pure exaggeration. The thing is even if I get mad, the whole world knows I could never hate the guy long enough. 

“I’ll treat you a month’s worth of Mozza Sticks. Right hyung?” Dowoon turns to Sungjin, who gives him a tiny glare which he quickly turns to a smile the moment he sees me looking. “No chance in hell it’s going to be free, buddy.”

Wonpil ends his set in an hour without pause. The moment the lights turn back on, Dowoon is proudly hooting from his seat, the crowd is giving small claps and I’m chewing on my last piece of mozza stick. When he’s done packing up, he and Sungjin have a quick word then he heads straight to us. 

“That synth break you added in the third song? A-okay,” Jae raises his hand in an ‘ok’ sign with a wink.

Wonpil breaks out into a full-on smile and  _ he’s actually quite cute? _ Wrinkles form around his eyes which turns into slits, his lips thin like a straight line, and the roundness of his nose is now more emphasized. It’s quite a big contrast from the expressions he made earlier. He turns to ruffle Dowoon’s messy curls while the other remains defenseless. But knowing Dowoon, he really enjoys that. I catch Wonpil looking at me with that smile of his still on his, his hand reaching out for mine.

“Jia,” I smile back at him. Wonpil's lips turn up and he looks less intimidating than before. Almost friendly.

Wonpil’s lips form a small ‘o’, like he has figured out the last piece to the puzzle, looking at Dowoon as if they're both on a secret. Dowoon winks at Wonpil. 

  
“Yo, band gigs start in a month so we better be practicing every day. Pass on your class schedules to me… wait, no- Sungjin. Pass them to Sungjin so he could see when we’re all free for practices. And then…”

I tune out the rest of Jae’s reminder-turned-pep talks and try not to notice Wonpil often looking over Sungjin to scan the crowd. His eyes are quick and fast before he turns his focus back. Then I watch him do it again - like he’s looking for someone. Maybe expecting someone… or avoiding.

Suddenly his eyes avert to mine, as if he’s trying to catch me looking at him. But I stood my ground without exactly a point to make, ending up staring at each other for a good few seconds. He suddenly flashes a small smile and that’s how I lost and end up looking down at my freezing hands.

This time, I also try not to make a big deal out of the heat in my cheeks and try to nonchalantly dismiss the way I'm steadying my uneven heartbeat.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I honestly cannot promise how often I could update this but pretty sure this may take a while so I hope you're in for the ride. Will try my best to be consistent with my updates. Nevertheless, leave a comment for any thoughts. Much appreciated ♥


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